Thursday, October 14, 2010

Notes from the final Walter Reed redevelopment presentation

A rundown of my experiences there this evening:

Most interesting new thing that I learned, which hadn't been mentioned in the other redevelopment meetings, is that the proposed Georgia Avenue streetcar route will turn right at Butternut Street (in front of the Walter Reed site), and terminate at the Takoma Metro station. If this proposed route comes to fruition, it will of course settle the minds of those who are concerned about the site being so far (a whopping five blocks!) from the Metro station. But of course I can see Takoma residents raising all kinds of hell about the streetcar running down Butternut...

Although the planning committee has been referring to this as the presentation of the "final" plan, the plan is not quite final. The committee will continue to entertain public comments through at least February 2011.

Sitting at my table was a mom who currently lives in Bloomingdale and was bemoaning the lack of playgrounds and other kiddie amenities in her neighborhood. She was looking at the map of the area surrounding Walter Reed provided by the planning committee, pointing to the area between the Fort Stevens Rec Center and Walter Reed, telling her friend that if she lived right there she'd have easy access to both places. People are thinking about moving here on the basis of the Walter Reed redevelopment. I love it!

Also seated at my table was an older gentleman who expressed concern that senior citizens would have more difficulty getting to grocery stores, pharmacies, etc. due to the increased traffic that the development will bring to the area. I countered by saying that the new commerce along Georgia that the development will hopefully spark will mean that seniors won't have to go so damn far in the first place to access the services they need. Touché.

Over the next few days, the planning committee will post the entire 160-page redevelopment plan on walterreedlra.dc.gov. Watch for it!